Track-sanding apparatus



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TNE ams PETERS 0a, wordu'r (No' Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

C. W. SHERBURNE. TRACK SANDING APPARATUS.

No. 544,073. Patented Aug. 6, 1895.

WITNEEEEE UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES W. SHERBURNE,OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE AUTOMATIC TRACK COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE AND PORTLAND, MAINE.

TRACK-SAN DING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 544,073, dated August 6, 1895.

Application filed March 29, 1895. Serial No. 543,630. (No modeL-l T0 aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES W. SHER- BUENE, a citizen of the U.nited States, and a resident of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Track-SandingApparat us, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specifieatiomin explaining its nature.

The invention is in some respects an improvement upon the invention described in my Patent No. 487,496, dated December 6, 1892; and it relates especially to the formation of the valves, to the arrangement in connection with each valve of a scraper to free its under surface from adhesions, and to the arrangement in relation to the valves and sand-exits of the outlets of the air forcing or supplying pipes. It will be understood that for ordinary 'uses the track-sanding box is provided with two sets of these devices, one for supplying sand to each rail.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a View, partly in horizontal section and partly in plan, of a sand-box having the features of my invention. Fig. 2 is an enlarged view in vertical section upon the dotted line a: an of Fig.1. Fig. 3 is a view, partly in elevation, to show the relation of the end of the air-pipe to the valve. Fig. 4 is a view, partly in section and partly in elevation, to show the relation between the valve and its scraper. Fig. 5 shows in section a modification of the position of the scraper and air-supply pipe, to which reference is hereinafter made.

Referring to the drawings, A- represents an ordinary. box or receptacle for holding sand, gravel, orsuch other gritty material as may be suitable for creating friction between the rails and wheels. It has the bottom a, from which, preferably at each side of the box, ex-

' tend the sand-supply pipes or passages a a Above the openings a to these pipes or passages are the valves B B, which are alike and which are mounted upon spindles or shafts b b, which spindles are adapted to be turned to simultaneously swing the valves out of and into operative position by any suitable turning mechanism, and as an illustration of this mechanism for accomplishing this purpose I refer to that described in my said Patent No. 487,496. Each of these valves is in the form of a plate'integral or not with its turningshaft, as preferred, having asection b to receive its turning shaft or spindle, or from which it extends, and a section b The section b forms the valve, and it is shaped to provide between the upper surface of the bottom of the sand-box, or that part from which the sand-supply pipes or passages extend, a narrow recess b, or, in other words, the valve does not slide or fit closely the surface about the entrance to the pipe or passage a but is raised or lifted from it, (see Figs. 2 and 4.) and this provides for a simple form of valve and a cheap construction and permitsthe use or employment of the scraper C, which is located at one side of the opening to the sand- 7: supply pipe or passage, and over which scraper the valve is adapted to be moved in fully opening the pipe.

While it is desirable that dry sand be used in an apparatus of this kind, it is not always so used, either because it is not obtainable or for other reasons, and it very often happens that material is employed which adheres to the under surface of the valve, and when such material is used it is of especial consequence So that there be some means of easily and automatically freeing the under surface from these adhesions, and it is for these reasons that the scraper C is provided, and this is also one of the reasons for making the valve of the shape 8 5 described. Of course, upon each openingmovement of the valve it is moved over the scraper and the adhesions' removed from it.

It has been found in practice that when the outlets of the air-supply pipes have been so arranged as to be within certainlines of movement of the valves the sand or other material may be forced, into the said outlets to an extent sufficieut to interfere with their working; and to overcome this objectionl 5 have arranged the ends of the two air-supply pipes so that their outlets shall be out of the line of the thrust or direct movement of the valve, and thereby prevent their clogging. In Figs. 1,2, and 3 this is represented as pro- [00 vided by shaping the ends d d of the pipes respectively so as to extend downward toward the outer ends of the valves, the outlets being, preferably, just beyond said ends and slightly above them, although the outlets may extend over the ends somewhat, if desired.

This provides a form of pipe and outlet that cannot be clogged. It also si mplifics the shaping and introduction of the pipes, and in this respect the invention is an improvement upon that described in my Patent No. 508,850, dated November 14, 1893, the reducer of which I prefer to use; and I would here say that the use of such reducer and the employment of pipes having relatively large outlets renders the present invention all the more desirable.

The valve herein described is an improvement upon that described in my said Patent No. 487,496 in that while it serves the same purpose it is more cheaply made and applied.

In Fig. 5 I have shown the scraper as adapted to be used inponnection with the type of valve shown in my said Patent No. 487,496, the scraper being shown as attached at its end to the wall of the sand-box in astationary position and in line with the opening of the valve, so that the movement of the valve will cause its under surface to ride across the upper surface of the scraper and thus be freed from sand or any other clinging matter. The end of the air-supply pipe is also represented as curved to bring its outlet out of line with the thrust of the valve or so that it cannot be clogged by any movement of the sand in the opening, the movement .of the valve not causing a pressure of this kind to be brought upon the sand.

It will be understood, of course, that the valve must be wide or large enough to extend sufficiently beyond the edge of the sand-outlet, when closed, to prevent sand from leaking by its edge into the said outlet.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States- 1. In a track sanding apparatus in combination with the floor of a sand box or stationary surface in which is the opening to the sand supply pipe or passage, a swinging valve B, the pipe covering section of which is separated from the said surface about the opening by a relatively deep recess or space, and

an air injecting or supply pipe, the outlet of which is within the sand box in operative proximity to the said valve when over the sand supply opening, substantially as described.

2. In a track sanding apparatus the combination of a swinging valve and a scraper for removing adhesions from its surface.

3. In a track sanding apparatus the combination of the inlet to the sand supply pipe or passage, a swinging valve the surface of which is raised above said inlet and a stationary scraper adjacent to the inlet over which the valve is moved in uncovering the opening to the supply pipe or passage and by which adhesions are removed from its surface, substantially as described.

4. In a track sanding apparatus in combination with the sand box, the sand supply delivery pipe or passage and its controlling valve movable in the box, and the air injecting or supply pipe, the outlet to which is in the sand box above the entrance to the sand distributing pipe and out of line with the direct thrust of the valve in its movements, as and for the purposes described.

5. The combination in a track sanding apparatus of a sand box, the sand outlet a the valve B, and an air supply pipe the end of which is vertically arranged in relation to the valve and sand outlet and the outlet to which is out of line with the thrust of the valve, as and for the purposes described.

6. In a track sanding apparatus in combination with a track sanding box, the sand ontlets, the valves B, B, the air supply pipe taking its air through a reducer'from a common source and having two outlets near each sand opening which are brought out of line with the thrusts of the valves by bending the ends of said pipe downward so that they occupy a vertical relation at their ends to the said valves, as and for the purposes described.

CHARLES W. SHERBURNE.

Witnesses:

F. F. RAYMOND, 2d, J. M. DOLAN.

It is hereby certified that the assignee in Letters Patent No. 544,07 3, granted August 6,1895, upon' the application of Gharles W. Sherburne, of Boston, Massachusetts, for an improvement in Track-Sanding Apparatus, Should have been described and speeified as The Automatic Tmck Sanding Company, instead of the Automatic Track Company, and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to' the record of the case in the Patent Offiee.

Signed, countersigned, and sealed this 24th day of September, A. D. 1895.

[SEAL] J NO. M. REYNOLDS,

Assistant Secretary of the Interior. Countersigned:

S. '11. FISHER,

Acting; Commissioner of Patents. 

